The present invention relates to firearms and, more particularly, to gas recoil automatic and semiautomatic firearms and to improvements in the gas systems thereof.
In firearms of the gas operated type in which propellant gases are tapped from the barrel and employed to drive a piston which actuates the gun action, it is often desirable to have some means of regulating the energy transmitted to the piston. This is especially desirable in firearms that are adapted to fire a variety of types of ammunition, each developing widely varying pressure characteristics in the barrel.
If no control device is provided to compensate for the varying pressure, the gun must be designed to function with that round of ammunition which develops the least gas pressure energy on the operating piston. However, when firing rounds that develop high pressure levels, excessive energy is transmitted to the action which tends to increase wear and tear and shorten the life of the firearm. Current methods of compensating for the varying pressure suffer from one or more of the following deficiencies: inability to adjust for a wide range of ammunition, inability to quickly disassemble and clean the mechanism such as might be necessary in the field, require the release of light, heat and sound which may render the weapon unsuitable for certain uses and inefficiencies render the method unsuitable for use with certain types of ammunition, such as subsonic rounds.
Accordingly, an improved system and method of controlling gas pressure in a piston actuated auto-loading firearm is needed.